In terms of Arsenal signings, the Gunners have had an excellent summer.
Mikel Arteta and Edu have spent the guts of £120 million across five players in the transfer window.
Gabriel Jesus at £45 million represents the most expensive of all their pre-season recruits, with the Brazilian also enjoying a fast-and-furious start to life at the Emirates Stadium.
The former Manchester City hitman netted a hat-trick in a friendly win over Sevilla this past weekend.
Based on early evidence, he certainly could and hopefully will be the goalscorer Arsenal desperately missed last season.
Arsenal signings
But could the Gunners be signing another number nine, too? Well if Fabrizio Romano is right then yes, possibly.
According to the reliable Italian journalist, Arsenal’s Folarin Balogun is about to be unveiled by French outfit Reims in a season-long loan arrangement.
This is significant because Arteta’s side are back in the Europa League this season and the Spanish manager wouldn’t be loaning out Balogun unless another number nine was coming in.
Jesus and Eddie Nketiah isn’t a comprehensive enough list of strikers to carry Arsenal through every competition this term.
And with that in mind, it really wouldn’t be a major surprise if Balogun was only going because someone else is coming in.
It isn’t guaranteed, of course, but as mentioned, the Europa League is something of a burden for the first half of the campaign and Arteta ideally will not be using Jesus or Nketiah regularly until the latter stages of the competition.
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